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Andrea Bruce

Fellowship Title:

  • Afghanistan: Surviving the Choices of War

Fleeing the Fight: Displaced in Afghanistan

Andrea Bruce
December 9, 2011

Fellowship Year

  • 2011
A boy sells small food items and phone cards at his makeshift kiosk.
A boy sells small food items and phone cards at his makeshift kiosk.
Thousands of Afghans have been displaced by the violence primary in the south. They have built temporary mud and tent homes on the outskirts of Baghdad, unsure if they will ever be able to return home.
Thousands of Afghans have been displaced by the violence primary in the south. They have built temporary mud and tent homes on the outskirts of Baghdad, unsure if they will ever be able to return home.
A man sings the call to prayer outside a tent that is used as a mosque for residents of the displacement camp on the outskirts of Kabul.
A man sings the call to prayer outside a tent that is used as a mosque for residents of the displacement camp on the outskirts of Kabul.
A man rebuilds his mud home after rain destroyed it.
A man rebuilds his mud home after rain destroyed it.
A widow lives in a mud hut with several other widows in a displacement camp in Kabul.
A widow lives in a mud hut with several other widows in a displacement camp in Kabul.
A boy helps his family pull a tarp over their mud walls that mark their new home after fleeing the violence in Kandahar.
A boy helps his family pull a tarp over their mud walls that mark their new home after fleeing the violence in Kandahar.
An American flag is sewn into the tent where displaced Afghans live.
An American flag is sewn into the tent where displaced Afghans live.
Women carry goods from the market under their burqas to the displacement camp where they live.
Women carry goods from the market under their burqas to the displacement camp where they live.
A child living in a displacement camp tries to fly his homemade kite.
A child living in a displacement camp tries to fly his homemade kite.
A man, displaced from Helmand, builds a home in one of the several displacement camps in Kabul.
A man, displaced from Helmand, builds a home in one of the several displacement camps in Kabul.
A woman who has lived in a displacement camp for three years tends to her newborn.
A woman who has lived in a displacement camp for three years tends to her newborn.
A worker tends to a horse in one of several displacement camps in Kabul.
A worker tends to a horse in one of several displacement camps in Kabul.

Thousands of Afghans have fled the death and destruction of southern Afghanistan by abandoning their ancestral homes. They are now displaced, living in a sewage-soaked camp in Kabul, having forsaken their land for survival and their family’s future. Among a maze of mud walls, shielded by leaking tarps, people like Salam, an Imam, say they were forced to make a choice. Death by the Taliban or death by Americans. Few retain the hope that, one day, they can return to their homes.

© 2011 Andrea Bruce
  • © 2011
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Andrea Bruce

FELLOWSHIP TITLE

  • Afghanistan: Surviving the Choices of War

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